Lattice-induced rapid formation of spin singlets in spin-1 spinor condensates

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that combining a cubic optical lattice with a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate substantially relaxes three strict constraints and brings spin singlets of ultracold spin-1 atoms into experimentally accessible regions. About 80 percent of atoms in the lattice-confined spin-1 spinor condensate are found to form spin singlets, immediately after the atoms cross first-order superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transitions in a microwave dressing field. A phenomenological model is also introduced to well describe our observations without adjustable parameters.